Mobile communications data traffic tends to increase rapidly year-by-year. Technological development is actively underway to support rapidly increasing data in real time in wireless networks. For example, receiving and transmitting data for Internet of things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), live VR/AR combined with social network services (SNS), autonomous driving, sync view (real-time image transmission of user's view using compact camera), applications, and the like, require communications (e.g., 5th-generation (5G) communications, millimeter wave (mmWave) communications, etc.) supporting the exchange of mass amounts of data.
Therefore, mmWave communications including 5G communications have been actively studied and research to allow for the commercialization/standardization of antenna modules to smoothly realize mmWave communications has actively been conducted.
RF signals of high frequency bands (e.g., 24 GHz, 28 GHz, 36 GHz, 39 GHz, 60 GHz, etc.) are easily absorbed in the course of transmissions and lead to loss, so that the quality of communications may be drastically lowered. Therefore, antennas for communications of high-frequency bands require a technical approach different from that of the related art antenna technology, and the development of special technologies such as a separate power amplifier for securing an antenna gain, integrating an antenna and a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), securing effective isotropic radiated power, and the like, may be required.
Traditionally, antenna modules providing a mmWave communications environment use a structure in which an IC and an antenna are disposed on a substrate and are connected by a coaxial cable to meet a high level (e.g., transmit/receive ratio, gain, directivity, etc.) of antenna performance according to high frequencies. This structure, however, may lead to insufficient antenna layout space, limitations on the degree of freedom of an antenna shape, increased interference between the antenna and the IC, and an increase in the size/cost of antenna modules.